The Lantern Hall
Painting: an ancient lexicon open on a carved lectern in a dark chapel of books, glowing runes and symbols lifting off its pages like fireflies.
TermGeneral term1974

Level up

Gaining a level once enough Experience points accumulate, improving a character's abilities in a single jump. The satisfying moment of leveling up, inherited from D&D, is one of the most widely copied mechanics in all of gaming.

Gaining a level once enough Experience points accumulate, improving a character's abilities in a single jump. The satisfying moment of leveling up, inherited from D&D, is one of the most widely copied mechanics in all of gaming.

Origin

Dungeons & Dragons (1974), from Dave Arneson's earlier Chainmail-based campaigns.

Quick answers

What does "Level up" mean?
Gaining a level once enough Experience points accumulate, improving a character's abilities in a single jump. The satisfying moment of leveling up, inherited from D&D, is one of the most widely copied mechanics in all of gaming.
Where does the term "Level up" come from?
Dungeons & Dragons (1974), from Dave Arneson's earlier Chainmail-based campaigns.

Nearby in the archive

Experience points

Tabletop term1974

Points awarded for defeating foes, finding treasure or achieving goals, which accumulate until a character gains a level and becomes more powerful. In original D&D much of a character's experience came from treasure recovered, rewarding cunning over combat; later games shifted rewards toward fights, quests and story milestones.

Grinding

Digital term

Repeating the same fights or tasks to accumulate Experience points, gold or items. Sometimes a design choice and sometimes a flaw, grinding was notorious in early JRPGs and MMORPGs, and it gave rise to paid services and Gold farming.

Character class

Tabletop term1974

A package of abilities that defines what a character does, such as fighter, wizard, cleric or thief. Classes make roles distinct and parties interdependent, and they became a backbone of computer and online RPGs, from Wizardry to World of Warcraft.

LitRPG & Progression Fantasy

Literature genre2012

Novels with character sheets: fiction set in game worlds where stats, levels and loot appear on the page — from Russian LitRPG and Sword Art Online to the runaway success of Dungeon Crawler Carl.